1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a printer that uses a roll-shaped printing medium formed by winding, into a roll shape, a printing medium including a printing surface on which images are to be printed, a releasably adhered printing portion, and a release portion for holding the adhered printing portion. More particularly, the present invention relates to a printer capable of achieving precut seals in which a printing portion is cut for every image on a single release portion, while preventing the printing portion from peeling off before an image is printed thereon, and relates to a roll-shaped printing medium used for the same.
2. Description of the Related Art
Hitherto, in order to produce precut seals in which a seal portion alone is cut for every image on a single release paper by using a seal paper comprising a seal portion and a release paper, 4-divided (2xc3x972) or 16-divided (4xc3x974) cutting (half-cutting) has been applied in advance to only the seal portion of a seal paper cut into a fixed dimension, and thereafter a printing operation in keeping with this cutting has been performed.
In a printer using a roll-shaped seal paper formed by winding, into a roll shape, seal paper comprising a seal portion and a release paper, when precut seals are produced in the same manner as in the foregoing, the following problems occur.
One problem is that the seal portion peels off before printing.
Specifically, the half-cutting is performed also along the width direction perpendicular to the conveying direction, and hence, in the half-cut portion, the seal portion peels off at a portion near a roll core, the portion near the roll core having a large curvature. Therefore, the existing roll-shaped seal paper cannot be used as it is.
Another problem is that both the roll-shaped paper and the printer must have additional mechanisms.
Specifically, as described above, in order to produce precut seals, it is necessary to detect the position of the half-cut portion in the conveying direction, from a continuous roll-shaped seal paper, to thereby print an image, and therefore, an exclusive mechanism must be newly added. For example, as shown in FIG. 13, roll-shaped seal paper 91 has hitherto been provided with holes or markings 92 at regular intervals from the half-cut portion so that the position of the half-cut portion of the roll paper 91 in the conveying direction has been detected by reading the holes or markings by a sensor provided in the printer. This requires a change of the manufacturing process for roll paper, and also causes complication of the mechanism and control of the printer, resulting in increased costs of both roll paper and the printer.
Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to solve these problems and to provide a printer that can prevent the printing portion from peeling off before an image is printed thereon, and that allows precut seals to be produced without the need to detect the position of the printing medium in the conveying direction, by using a roll-shaped printing medium formed by winding, into a roll shape, a printing medium comprising a printing surface on which an image is to be printed, a releasably adhered printing portion, and a release portion for holding the adhered printing portion, as well as to provide a roll-shaped printing medium used for the same.
In order to achieve the above-described object, the present invention provides a printer that uses a roll-shaped printing medium formed by winding, into a roll shape, a printing medium comprising a printing surface on which an image is to be printed, a releasably adhered printing portion, and a release portion for holding the adhered printing portion. This printer includes conveying device that conveys the printing medium while pulling out the printing medium by a predetermined amount every time an image is to be printed; a printing member that prints an image with respect to the printing medium conveyed by the conveying device; a half-cutting unit that cuts off the printing portion of the printing medium except for the release portion, along the conveying direction of the image printed by the printing member, at the interval corresponding to the dimension of the image in the width direction perpendicular to the conveying direction; and a cutting unit that cuts the printing medium along the width direction of the image printed by the printing member, at the positions corresponding to the dimension in the conveying direction.
By virtue of the described features, when a desired image is to be printed, the present printer conveys the roll-shaped printing medium while pulling out the printing medium by a predetermined amount every time the desired image is to be printed, and prints the desired image by the printing member with respect to the roll-shaped printing medium conveyed into a printing region. Either before or after the image is printed, the half-cutting unit cuts off the printing portion of the printing medium except for the release portion, along the conveying direction of the image printed by the printing member, at the interval corresponding to the dimension of the image in the width direction thereof. Thereafter, the cutter unit cuts the roll-shaped printing medium printed, along the width direction of the printed image, at the positions corresponding to the dimension of the image in the conveying direction thereof, thereby providing a print output.
The present printer further includes a second half-cutting unit disposed at the upstream side in the conveying direction of the cutting unit. This half-cutting unit cuts off the printing portion of the printing medium except for the release portion, along the width direction of the image printed by the printing member, at the positions corresponding to the dimension of the image in the conveying direction.
Thereby, the printing portion of the printing medium except for the release portion can be cut off not only along the conveying direction but also along the width direction of the printing portion.
The roll-shaped printing medium according to the present invention is used for a printer that prints images with respect to the conveyed printing medium. This roll-shaped printing medium includes a printing surface on which images are to be printed, a printing portion that is releasably adhered, and a release portion for holding the adhered printing portion. In this printer, the printing portion has been cut off in advance along the conveying direction of the image printed by the printing member, at the interval corresponding to the dimension of the image in the width direction perpendicular to the conveying direction.
With these features, when precut seals are produced, it becomes unnecessary for the printer to detect the position of the printing medium in the conveying direction thereof.
The above and other objects, features, and advantages of the present invention will become clear from the following detailed description of the preferred embodiments of the invention in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.